Lifesaver [Engl.]

39. Crime and Punishment

Madog grinned triumphantly as the townspeople backed away from him. Only Rango dared a few steps forward, but kept enough distance.
"Nice, Sheriff," Madog said mockingly. "But unfortunately, your plan went wrong. Or did you really think you could do something against us? And now tell your flight friends to leave the area!"
Rango was frozen. Everything had worked out so well. Now he was suddenly on the losing side again.
Madog was getting impatient. "Immediately!"
Again he held the revolver close to Priscilla's head so that Rango saw no other way out than to do what the leader asked.
He whistled loudly once. Immediately a bat detached itself from the crowd and flew in a direct direction towards the assembled animals. As a precaution, Madog took a few steps back when the bat dived back down to the ground.
"Ezekiel, tell the others to back off," Rango said through clenched teeth.
Ezekiel looked at him in surprise. "Withdrawing? But the city, otherwise it burns completely... "
"I said immediately!" Rango yelled at him as Madog demonstratively swung the revolver again.
Ezekiel withdrew hastily. "As you wish, Sheriff."
"And don't come back!" Madog called after him.
As soon as Ezekiel was in the air with his bat, the news of "retreating" made the rounds everywhere. And it wasn't long before the bats retreated into flight formation into the distance.
Rango looked after them sadly.
When the last bat had disappeared behind the horizon, Madog loosened his grip on Priscilla, but kept the revolver on her head.
Madog grinned nastily. "Well, well. Now that we've had a bit of fun here, I think it's time to move on to the final."
"Mr. Madog!"
Immediately Madog turned around with Priscilla in his arms.
The townspeople were frightened. Miss Oats fainted when they saw the turtle approaching. Even without a wheelchair.
"Mayor John?" Buford gasped in a choked voice.
The townspeople hardly dared to breathe.
"Mayor?" Elgin asked in disbelief.
"Don't be fooled by him!" Rango shouted. "That's not John, it's his twin brother!"
"His twin brother?" Spoons mumbled in surprise. "He has a brother?"
Rango cleared his throat. "He had a brother."
John's brother ignored this sentence and stared angrily at Madog.
"Mr. Madog! What kind of commotion was that earlier? Are you screwing up everything again?"
"No, no!", Madog defended himself. "Don't worry. I've got everything under control."
At that moment, the other mongooses came, who had recovered from the attacks again. They surrounded the group and pointed their revolvers at the townspeople. The townspeople huddled together in fear.
Madog liked the fear and laughed with glee. "Well, you've probably never thought it would end like that, have you? Before that you could chase us away. Now it's you who have to leave. And forever."
"What do you mean by that?", Rango asked a little more courageously than before. The mongoose still had Priscilla under his control, but as long as they all kept quiet there was no acute danger to their lives.
"I'll be happy to explain it to you, Mr. Rango," turtle Frank said.
"As personal revenge for my brother, I have decided not only to destroy a city of houses, but also to destroy anyone who has risen up against my brother, directly or indirectly. And because of this, you will all be eliminated in an instant."
A hectic murmur went through the crowd. Some shouted outrage, but Madog silenced it with a shot in the air.
The townspeople ducked their heads in shock.
Rango tried to remain calm and took a brave step forward.
"You can't murder an entire city!"
Frank's expression darkened. "You will all atone for my brother's death."
"You can't do that!" Some townspeople wailed and moved indignantly towards the turtle. "What did we do to you? We had nothing to do with it!"
"Shut up!" Madog shouted. "No one moves from the spot!"
Again he held his revolver threateningly at Priscilla's head, so that everyone stopped immediately again.
Frank left the plea for mercy and indignation completely cold.
"You should actually complain to your Sheriff," he said in a reproachful voice. "Just because he interfered in the past, you all have to pay with your life now."
Rango looked up startled, while Frank continued without remorse: "Yes, it is entirely your fault that a whole city has to pay for it now."
He indicated the chameleon with a threatening finger, which stared at him in disbelief.
"Yes, if it hadn't been for it, you would all only be without your country, but in an advanced, modern city. At that time, you had nothing to lose but your stupid, barren piece of land, which my brother would have bought from you at a fair price. Now my brother is dead because of him and you've joined this sheriff rebel. Now you are all paying with your life. It is only because of him that you all have to die a cruel death."
Rango turned around. He turned pale with shock when reproachful glances met him.
"No! You don't really believe that?! "
"Well," said Madog with a sardonic grin. "Lost is lost, little one. And this time you lost heavily. All along the line. Bad luck for you. I really don't want to be in your skin."
"That's enough now, Mr. Madog!", Frank exploited him. "I've already lost enough time. Now it's time to enforce the sentence. And I will pass the sentence now. You will all die where my brother wanted to build his future. And you will all perish with it."
With these words, Frank gave Madog a sign. Madog nodded and, together with his people, they directed the townspeople into the desert. To the remains of the construction site where Mayor John once wanted to build his new city. Since the mayor's death, the construction work had been stopped and simply left without anyone taking care of it. All that was there now were excavated, empty building pits for the cellars of the planned buildings and a few scaffoldings.
During the whole march none of the townspeople dared to defend themselves against the mongooses. The fear was too great that they would use their firearms. Besides, Madog was still targeting Priscilla. Counterattacking was far too dangerous.
"Here, the place is perfect!" Frank said, who had preceded the whole group. All townspeople looked into the empty, deep excavation.
"Come on!" Madog ordered Madog and swung his revolver again. "Get down!"
"What are you going to do with us?" Miss Oats asked anxiously.
Madog snarled and raised his revolver. "No questions! Get down! Immediately!"
Before anyone could say anything, one of the mongooses had roughly grabbed Buford by the arm and had brutally pushed him into the pit. Buford hit the ground hard and lay groaning in the ditch.
"Do you need an extra invitation?" Madog yelled at the others.
The townspeople climbed into the excavation pit without any resistance. Since the pit went very deep, barely a floor down, the jump down was not exactly gentle. Elgin and Spoons were hardly down when they ran to Buford and helped him up again.
"Are you okay, buddy?" Elgin asked.
Buford held his head and saw only stars.
When the last resident was down, Madog released Priscilla and threw her down to join the others, too. Rango ran to her and took her comfortingly in his arms.
"And now," they heard Frank call down to them. "Now I wish you all a good jump into nowhere."
The townspeople were horrified to see the mongooses who were carrying a lot of dynamite in their hands and spreading it around the excavation pit. Some panicked and tried against all common sense to get out of the pit.
Madog, who found the whole thing too annoying, fired a warning shot in the air.
Immediately everyone fell silent and remained frozen in the excavation.
"Now shut up!" Madog shouted threateningly. "Or I'll shoot you first!"
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Madog," Frank said. "They'll wander to the happy hunting soon enough."
"Please leave her alone!" Rango called up to them from below. He had managed to calm Priscilla down a bit and was now clearly visible in the field of vision of Madog and Frank.
"You said that it was me who was to blame. Then take your revenge on me. But let the others go!"
Frank raised his eyebrows and clasped his hands with a bored expression.
"That doesn't really matter at the moment," he said. "It doesn't matter who is to blame at the moment or not. It is important to me that my brother's death be atoned for. And you are the only one responsible for your city, but always behind them from the start. But you and everyone else have decided against my brother's progress. And there is a law in nature. You either participate in the changes or you are left behind."
"None of that has anything to do with the others!" Rango interrupted him.
"It doesn't matter," Frank said and made a dismissive gesture. "A few townspeople more or less don't matter in the world. Besides..."
He made a dramatic pause. "Besides, it doesn't always have to be due to the past. Mr. Madog brought me a very long list of complaints, which indicates that you and your city have clearly shown that you have actively opposed my revenge. At the top of that, your city has gone so far as to shelter a killer who killed my brother. If that's not treason enough, then my next life is to advise you to study law."
It was quiet. They'd totally forgotten about Jake in all the excitement.
"Yes, yes," Madog intervened. "I don't like it when people annoy me. And the one who stands in the way of my work doesn't live long."
"As you can see, both sides have the right to execute a death sentence for everyone," Frank finished his verdict and looked gleefully at the townspeople concerned. But that alone was not enough for the turtle; instead, he was eager to humiliate Rango even more.
"It wasn't only unwise of you, sheriff, to interfere in my brother's affairs, but also a big mistake to stand in the way of snake hunters," Frank said, taking a few steps back and grinned mockingly. "You should never have been born, Mr. Rango. What a pity for you to die such a death under such conditions."
Rango lowered his gaze, but immediately he raised it again and looked up at the turtle with wide eyes. "Please! Don't!"
Frank wrinkled his nose and took a pocket watch out of his jacket.
"You now have five minutes to say your last prayers. Good day."
With these words, John's brother turned and left. Madog, who was still standing on the edge, looked down at the townspeople mockingly. "And that nobody gets the idea to climb out of here. If we even see the first one up here, we set fire to the dynamite."
With a wicked laugh, he withdrew with his people to detonate the dynamite load at a safe distance where the townspeople were now.
It went quiet. For a moment nobody dared to say a word.
"It's all your fault!" Miss Oats yelled hysterically.
"Yes, it's all your fault!" Buford agreed and gestured menacingly at Rango.
Rango was so shocked that his skin turned pale white.
"We should have hung it back when the big faucet dried out!" Spoons cursed.
Elgin was outraged too. "Right from the start, he only brought us bad luck!"
"That's not true!" Rango defended himself and pressed himself uncertainly against the wall of the pit while the townspeople angrily approached him.
"Stop it!", Priscilla shouted and threw herself into Rango. "Rango, it wasn't your fault. You always wanted the best for us. You would never want to put us in danger. We didn't care about you, then you would never have gotten us out of the burning city. You are and will remain a hero."
Rango knelt before Priscilla with a sad look.
"I was a hero in the past. But heroes don't always win. At some point they lose a fight, too. "
Priscilla smiled slightly. "But that doesn't change the fact that you love us. No matter where we are about to land, you will always be a hero to me."
Rango had tears in his eyes. "Thank you, little sister."
He moved and took her in his arms.
The other townspeople had calmed down a bit and now stood by in silence.
"How do we get out of here now?" Miss Oats asked.
"Not at all," Buford said in a disappointed voice.

Meanwhile, Frank and Madog had enough distance from the excavation and were waiting for the other mongooses to finish the detonating cable for the dynamite.
Frank did not hide the fact that Madog kept looking around nervously.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Madog?"
Madog snorted contemptuously. "What bothers me is that this snake is nowhere to be seen. With his anger, I would have expected more vindictiveness from him."
"That doesn't worry you, does it?"
"Worry me?" Madog asked mockingly. "Not a trace! I've never been afraid of a snake. And this rattlesnake is no different. On the contrary. I can smell a snake ten miles against the wind. If it really is, if he should stop here, he should just come. I'm just waiting for it. I can't wait to hear him whine when I slowly peel his skin off. Bit by bit. Millimeter by millimeter." He had taken out his knife and was slowly brushing the knife blade with his long claw.
"We're ready!" One of his men reported and placed the explosive box with the pressure lever on the ground, which was connected to the dynamite at the excavation pit by a cable.
Frank rubbed his hands. "Perfect. Now I can finally finish my plan... "
"Get out of there!" Madog said and pushed Frank aside. "I'll do it myself!"
"Wrong!", Frank interrupted, "That's my job!"
"Now listen to me! This is my dynamite and my settlement with these city failures. So I have the right to push the decisive lever."
Frank growled angrily. "Fine. But I'm counting the countdown."
"I don't care," Madog replied and positioned himself behind the explosive device. Then he grabbed both sides of the lever with both hands and stared expectantly into the distance where the excavation was.
A while passed. Frank alternately looked between his pocket watch and the construction pit, where the townspeople still crouched and waiting for their end.
"Half a minute more."
Madog's hands clenched impatiently on the lever. He squeezed his hands so tightly that it almost stifled his blood. Now Frank began to count the seconds.
"20... 19... 18..."
Frank's handshake intensified on the watch. He had reached his goal in a moment.
Second after second passed. Then finally...
"10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ZERO!"